1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to plastic snap buckles and more specifically relates to a snap buckle with a safety latch to prevent it from accidental release.
2. Background of the Invention
Plastic snap buckles are widely used for securing mounting belts for a large variety of bags and harnesses. Such snap buckle consists of a male plug and a female receptacle. The male plug is mounted to the end of one belt and the female receptacle is mounted to the end of the other belt such that the male plug and the female receptacle may be slidably engaged with one another to secure the two belts together. The male plug has two flexible arms which will engage with two side openings in the female receptacle when the male plug is slidably inserted into the female receptacle. To release the engagement, the flexible arms are pushed and held inwards towards one another while pulling the male plug away from the female receptacle. The engagement and release may be executed easily and quickly. Such plastic buckles are convenient to use and may be produced with relatively low cost. However, the buckle may become released accidentally when the flexible arms of the male plug are pushed in inadvertently either by hand or by abutting to other objects. More often, due to wear and tear in use, the engagement of the two components becomes less positive and it may be disengaged by a slight force exerted to the flexible arms of the male plug. Furthermore, when such buckle is used on the securing belt of a waist bag or wallet, the latter may be easily removed by some one forcibly gripping the flexible arms of the male plug to release the buckle to remove the worn bag. Thus, it becomes rather unsafe to use the buckle for such purposes. To prevent such forcible release and removal, safety latch may be provided in the buckle. However, theretofore, the safety latch constructions are rather complex in structure and are difficult to operate or the safety latch may itself be accidentally unlatched.